Intertwined Fates
by AngelicTrinity
Summary: Life can be cruel, something Kristy found out the hard way. But despite the hardships she's already gone through, she and several others who are also suffering find themselves drawn into something that affects teenagers. Trauma Team fic.
1. Prologue

**Ah, I've been planning this fic for a while but I never really got the chance to type it as I've been busy and stuff. Not to mention planning; I've been doing some planning both character wise as well as story line. Believe it or not, plotting a story centered on hospitals is a bit on the challenging side as you have to do a bit of research... or game watching and looking up terminology on Trauma Center wiki. Believe it or not, I choose to go with the latter since it's more fun!**

**...yeah. So don't expect real life accuracy. Game play accuracy, sure, but real life will be an entirely different matter. **

**...**

**Why are you looking at me like that for? Come on, how realistic do you think this game is? Healing touches, ability to see the dead, ability to hear the last words of the dead via cellphone... yeah, tell me how real life esque that is why don't ya?**

**Also, I'm not sure how many Hetalia fans are out there but if there are any among those who choose to read this, I'm sure you'll be happy to know that I'm including Hetalia characters in this story, some of them Gender-flipped. In fact, I am using BlackRoseAuthoress' portrayal of them from Round and Round, with her permission of course. Yes, I have permission to use her characterizations of them from her. And for those who have no idea what I'm talking about... go and read her Pleasantville fics. They are AWESOME. Also, if you like what you read, review! They're too awesome for anyone NOT to review!**

**Heh, sounded like Gil right there, didn't I?**

**Okay, now I'm going ahead with my story. But first... the disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Trauma Team, Trauma Center or any Atlus merchandise. I also do not own Hetalia or the teen characterizations of the Pleantville!Hetalia cast in this fic. The latter in fact belongs to the awesome authoress I mentioned above. I do own, however, Kristy and some other characters you don't recognize.  
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><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

Kristy had no idea how long she had been wandering the darkened streets of Portland, but she knew that it was past the curfew that had been set out for her by the orphanage.

No doubt she was going to be in trouble for breaking that particular rule again when she got back, but at the moment, she didn't care. She'd had so many clashes with authority and any rules in general ever since she was transferred to the city that her defiance towards anything and anyone was starting to become second nature to her. Any punishments given as deterrents for unacceptable behaviour didn't really work on Kristy anymore.

Once upon a time, getting in trouble would have made her cringe with horror and shame. Just being caught in the act of rule breaking itself was enough to act as a deterrence.

But not a lot of things mattered to Kristy these days, rules and guidelines included. Which was probably why she had picked a fight with three girls, despite the fact that fighting on school grounds was not permitted and was grounds for suspension. It was hard to care about anything when you felt empty inside with each and every passing day.

The last belt Kristy had ever earned in karate was brown, but she still struggled with fighting three opponents because said opponents, even if they were the type who went around putting down other girls for their own amusement (god, even if Kristy was well known for being an apathetic bitch to her peers, the words that they said to Lovina Vargas on a daily basis had made her absolutely sick to her stomach and made her eyes burn with rage) triple teamed her and used their advantage in numbers against her.

Kristy would have still been able to beat the shit out of them despite being outnumbered but the loud, extroverted 'awesome' Gillian Beilschmidt joining the fight with her crimson eyes flashing evened things out and made the fight easier. Gillian may not have taken martial arts of any sort at any point in her life, the german girl was still athletic and had experience with just her fists if the fight she witnessed a month earlier between Gillian and another group of girls was anything to go by.

When Gillian joined in; the fight was in Kristy's favor again and the two of them were able to give the girls some bruises that would take a while to disappear. And they would have done more if their school's delinquent trio, consisting of Gillian's two _former _friends Antonio Carriedo and Francis Bonnefoy and the third wheel of the group, _Arthur_ freaking_ Kirkland, _who Kristy despised more than anyone on the planet, including the girls she got into a fight with, hadn't shown up.

After their appearance, it basically went down like this:

Bonnefoy: Mademoiselles, are we fighting amongst ourselves?

Girls (aka the ones who Gillian and Kristy were fighting): *Suddenly start playing with their hair and making themselves seem more decent than they actually were (ha, fucking bimbos)*

Then the asshole (the alternative and much more ruder nickname for them) trio charmed the bimbos into going over to Bonnefoy's big mansion with them because that was where the latest party was going to be held (like all parties he, Carriedo and Kirkland participated in). It wasn't too hard to guess what Bonnefoy's invitation implied; Kristy may not have given a damn about social life and whatever the hell this generation's teenagers thought was 'IN', but that didn't stop rumours from reaching her ears and peaking her interest.

What Kristy heard through the grape vine was... interesting. It certainly made the delinquents at her old school look cute in comparison.

Bonnefoy was well known for being charming, promiscuous, and bi (he wasn't picky about the gender of the person he spent the night with). And what was the likely answer to a promiscuous person inviting someone over to their house?

If you guessed sex, then you were right.

Ah... but that wasn't the entire truth. First, there would be the consuming of alcohol until they were lushed in some way or another and _then_ sex. Especially during nights Bonnefoy was having a neighbourhood wrecking party.

The top things of stupidity that teenagers could ever engage themselves into all in one package. Wonderful.

After the six people who Kristy wanted to shove onto the paths of moving cars were out of their view, Gillian stormed off in fury before Kristy had the chance to say anything to her; something along the lines of how Carriedo and Bonneyfoy were idiots and she how she could do better.

No doubt, as Kristy watched the other girl walking away as if she couldn't get far away from the area fast enough, Gillian was upset by Carriedo and Bonnefoy's appearance.

After Gillian stomped off, Kristy remained in place and wondered what she should do. Should she wander the streets until it was dark or should she just go back to the orphanage and make it in time for curfew? It hadn't been Kristy's mind that made the decision for her because as when she was lost in her thoughts, her legs started moving on their own in the opposite direction of where the orphanage was.

So now she was wandering around at night in a quiet neighbourhood; the perfect setting for someone to mug or extort you. The delinquent trio tried the latter stunt on her once (read: Kirkland). The result was Kristy not taking to kindly to being forced to do anything just because they demanded it, name calling, a reddened cheek from Kirkland punching her across the face because she didn't take his crap and insulted him right back after he opened that mouth of his and a bloody nose from Kristy punching Kirkland smack in the middle of his ugly face.

As Kristy was about to turn on her heel to go back to the orphanage and get herself yelled at, a strong familiar stench hit her nostrils and made her stop. Something she never wanted to smell again for as long as she lived.

She could deny what the stench was all she wanted, but she could never doubt it.

It was smoke.

And where there was smoke...

...there was _fire. _

Kristy's heart rate sped up and her eyes scanned the neighbourhood to try and detect the source of the smoke. That black, suffocating-

It was across the street and three houses down from where she was standing. The unholy orange glow that stood out in the darkness alerted her as to where the smoke was coming from. She was frozen in place as she watched that unnatural, _wrong, _glow get bigger and bigger bit by bit.

All Kristy could do was stare at the glow in numb horror as her mind flashed back to that _day. _ That day where everything that mattered to her had vanished within hours. Her life as she knew it had been consumed by flames. Those red, angry monstrous flames.

At that time, and even now, she still wished she had died that night.

She was snapped out of her daze when a dog started barking somewhere in the distance, no doubt having caught the smell of the smoke as well. It was the barking that spurred Kristy's legs into moving towards the house that was feeding the flames of the most dangerous element of nature in the world.

Naturally, the front door was locked. But Kristy could easily remedy that as the house happened to have one of those fancy doors with big glass panels embedded into them that allowed you to see what was going on inside; not exactly the best thing to have if you valued privacy, but perfect for her since she was planning on breaking and entering.

Grabbing a flower pot that happened to be lying innocently on the house's porch, Kristy smashed it into the lowest right corner glass pane, breaking both the pane and the lower pot. Instantly dropping the pot's shattered remains, she reached in and undid the door's locks. She pushed the door open, but immediately had to turn away to avoid getting a face full of smoke.

Kristy of all people knew the exact effects of inhaling smoke by now. She already had enough experience to last her a life time and more.

Squatting down, she pushed the door open further and crawled into the house on her knees as close to the ground as possible. She brought up her sweatshirt to her mouth to ward off some of the effects of smoke inhalation, but it didn't do much. Turning into an open door way, she spotted an unmoving figure lying on the living room. She moved to where the figure was and saw that it was a woman.

Kristy frowned as she quickly looked over; for some reason, there was blood staining the woman's neck and hair. But she didn't have time to dwell on that at the moment; the house was on fire after all.

Wrapping an arm around the woman, Kristy supported her as she walked towards the door she had come through. Kristy nearly stumbled down the steps due to the woman's weight, but was able to maintain her balance as she made her way to the side walk where people were beginning to gather and dump her into the arms of a man who could support the unconscious woman better than she could.

"U-uh?" The woman started regaining consciousness, her gaze unfocused and the expression on her face showing confusion.

"Hannah, this girl just saved your life!" The man who Kristy dumped her on exclaimed. "She pulled you out of your burning house!"

"My... house... is on fire?" The woman muttered, looking as if she couldn't quite believe him.

"It is." The man shook his head. "I'm sorry, Hannah. The only thing we can do is hope that the fire fighters can get here on time and make sure that the fire doesn't spread to the other houses."

The woman still looked confused, but her head snapped up and her eyes were suddenly wild with fear.

"Jason!" She shouted. "Where's Jason? Where's my baby?"

"Hannah- she was only able to rescue you. I'm sorry-"

"My baby! Let me get my baby!"

As the man prevented the distressed mother from running into the burning house to try and get her son, Kristy was already running back inside, ignoring the yells and shouts of alarm from the crowd of neighbours.

**xxxx**

Running back into a burning house or building or whatever the hell else could be set on fire was incredibly stupid, but that's exactly what Kristy did anyways. The woman's words of how her son was still inside had pumped adrenaline into her veins again; hopefully it was enough to get her and the kid out of the house before the flames consumed them, bones and all.

As soon as she was inside again, Kristy heard a distinctive wail that could only belong to a child. A very young one at that.

It also happened to be coming from upstairs.

Pulling up her sweatshirt again to cover her mouth and nose again, she raced up the stairs to where the terrified the cries of the woman's child was coming from. Once she reached the top, she kept low on the ground to keep the effects of smoke inhalation to a low. She wouldn't be much use to a kid lying on the ground unconscious, after all.

Kristy strained her senses to try and determine where the boy's wails were coming from. Since the crying was louder on the left, Kristy made her way towards that direction. There was only one room, so it wasn't hard to figure out what room Jason was in.

When she made it to the door, she touched the door with the back of her hand. The door didn't feel hot, so she turned the knob of the door and entered the room.

Sitting up on his bed and looking terrified was a boy with dark blond hair. His eyes widened when Kristy came in and he inched back in his bed, looking even more scared.

"Where's my mommy?" He said in a small, scared voice.

"Outside." Kristy crossed the room swiftly, glancing over her shoulder to make sure that the door wouldn't suddenly be lit aflame with them in the room. "She's outside and that's where we're going too."

"M-mommy doesn't like me talking to strangers." The boy stuttered.

"Well if you don't come with me, we'll both be dead. Mommy, I'm sure, will be very said if you're dead."

Jason's eyes widened even more and then watered. "I- I don't want mommy to be sad. She's always crying ever since daddy left."

Kristy had barely heard the boy's words as she saw something brush against the window outside. Quickly, she opened the window and saw that it had been a branch that had brushed the pane. Looking further down, she saw numerous other branches below... perfect for descending to the ground. It was risky, but it was between that and going back downstairs where the front door was probably no longer accessible.

Just as the thought of being able to use the tree crossed her mind, it was quickly dashed by the fact that she would also have to be carrying Jason. And she highly doubted he'd be able to hold on to her the entire time it took to get the both of them on to safe ground.

Kristy's eyes scanned the room, hoping an idea of any sort would hit her at that moment. The only thing that came to her frantic mind was a baby carrier or a sling, but Jason looked about four so she highly doubted that there was going to be one lying around in his room. Unless she could suddenly whip something up in place of-

-that was it.

Kristy _could_ make a sling. How many times had she seen her aunts in the Philippines make one out of a simple blanket to carry their sleeping children because they couldn't afford the ones western people used? How many times had she been forced to carry her... younger sister this way when she was still a baby?

Ignoring Jason's yelp as she suddenly started ripping the sheets off his bed, she quickly found the perfect blanket that could be used as a sling.

"Get on my back!" Kristy ordered, bending down onto her knees to allow him to climb on.

As if sensing that saying 'no' in their situation wasn't an option, the boy did as Kristy ordered immediately.

Kristy took the blanket and wrapped it around Jason, making sure he was secure as she tied the ends of the sheet of the make-shift sling tightly at her front. Standing up and testing the sling to make sure that the boy wouldn't suddenly fall out as she pulled off her risky operation plan, she started climbing over the window. Gripping the branch, Kristy inched along it towards the trunk where she would then drop onto the branch below her and then start scaling the trunk towards the next one.

Kristy could vaguely hear sirens in the background as she and Jason slowly made their way down the tree. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to let go of the branch she was holding onto once she was sure that the fall of her drop wouldn't kill her. She could have gone the safer way and climb down to a lower branch, but that was time consuming and she wasn't sure how long it would have taken for the fire to consume Jason's room and then the tree.

"Oof!" Kristy stumbled as her feet made contact with the ground. She flailed before making herself fall forward instead of her back to prevent herself from crushing Jason.

Knowing that she couldn't afford to rest, Kristy got back onto her feet and made her way to the back gate and into the back alley (going around the house may have been faster, but with the whole place on fire that was just asking to get set on fire).

"Heh." Kristy's smiled grimly as she walked down the darkened alley. "I was able to make it... out alive. I don't know if I'm lucky... or unlucky."

**xxxx**

Slowly opening her eyes, Kristy found her head pounding in agony and the room spinning. It took a few minutes, but the room finally stopped spinning in place and her mind became lucid enough to start piercing thoughts together.

Kristy stared up at a white ceiling, a bright and white light shining down on her. Wherever she was, it was definitely not at the orphanage. Hearing beeping coming from her left, she turned her head to see a monitor. The kind you didn't see unless you were in a...

_'...hospital.' _Kristy frowned, wanting to smash the device into pieces. What in the world was she doing in a hospital? Last she remembered was handing Jason over to his mother...

As she looked around, she realized that she was definitely in a hospital. The white emptiness, the smell of disinfectants, just the overall feeling and appearance were enough to tell her where she was.

"Oh, good! You're awake!" While she had been trying to figure out how she got from the scene of watching a tearful reunion between mother and child to lying unconscious on a hospital bed, a nurse had come in, presumably to check up on her.

"How are you feeling?" The nurse asked, coming closer to where Kristy was.

Well since her head felt as if was about to explode...

"Like shit." Was Kristy's prompt answer. "Where am I?"

The nurse, instead of looking offended by Kristy's language, chuckled softly.

"Of course. That's to be expected, and as to answer your question, you're at Resurgam First Care." The nurse's expression became stern. "Do you mind telling me what in the world you were thinking when you ran into a burning building? Twice?"

Kristy turned her head to the side to stare at the nurse who was attending to her at the moment blankly.

The nurse (Lacie, according to the name tag) was a pretty woman somewhere in her twenties with long reddish-blonde hair (strawberry blonde?) and hazel eyes. She was wearing a light pink top and a pink skirt that was a shade darker. Underneath the pink top, she wore a white dress-shirt with a red tie.

Kristy blinked at the woman several times, slowly digesting the question that she had just been asked before turning to stare up at the ceiling.

Her mind flew back to that day. That horrific day that changed _everything _was burned into her mind. Every. Single. Detail. She remembered all of it and she knew would keep on remembering, even if she was on the fringes of her life, dying a slow death.

"...I don't know." Kristy finally said, her eyes dull and her voice of hollow. "Maybe... maybe it's because I wanted... I thought..."

_'...I __thought I could atone for not being able to save my own family...' _

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><p><strong>Oh my god, I am finally finished! This took me a grand total of two days, a record for me with this length. Just so you know, I worked my butt off on this so you better damned appreciate it! Kristy would probably be the protagonist of the story, but there are plenty of main characters in this story. Though I'll try to limit how many POVs this will take place from.<strong>

**In case you haven't realized it yet, Kristy is not mentally sound. So don't expect her to be rational a lot of time; she'll have frequent bursts of anger and all the other fun stuff.**

**Also, don't worry, the main characters of Trauma Team will soon make an appearance in later chapters, so no need to worry!  
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**Don't forget to review!  
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	2. Chapter One

**Huh. I've been wanting to start on this chapter right away, but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to type this up until later. Still plotting out the second chapter and working on another chapter for a different story of mine, but I think I have enough material to start the second chapter. The first part of the story starts off from someone else's pov, but Kristy will be back in it soon enough.**

**Hmm... don't really have much to say after this. Guess I'll just say the disclaimer and then start the story.**

**Oh wait... I do have something to say!**

**Here it is: turns out that my classes in college this semester are really hard. Which unfortunately means that I'm not going to update very much for a few months, which sucks because I really like fanfiction. But unfortunately, post-secondary education calls so I have no choice but to get cracking on the books.  
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**Disclaimer: I do not own Trauma Team or Hetalia or the Pleasantville Series. I do, however own Kristy, Lacie and some other upcoming characters you'll later see in the story. **

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><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

Hospitals were known for saving lives, not the great cuisine.

In fact, they were pretty infamous for the bland food that was served to the patients. If one were to take a guess at what would be one of the reasons for people wanting to be discharged from a hospital, 'horrible food' would probably be somewhere at the top of that list.

Resurgam First Care, the best hospital in Portland that was also famous for the vital role it had played during the Rosalia Virus incident, was no different. It may have had top quality doctors, equipment and anything else that was essential when it came to saving lives, but the food that they served was like that of any other hospital's.

Horrible.

While patients didn't really have a choice when it came to their dining experience there, those who worked at Resurgam either chose to go out for lunch or brought in their own homemade food because it was that bad and expensive to boot.

Lacie Phoenix, a nurse who had worked at Resurgam for over a year now, was one of those people who brought her own lunch from home. And even though she had a container of heated up rice and beef stew right in front of her, she had only taken two bites of her food.

Her hunger had dulled as her thoughts kept drifting back to that one patient who had been brought in for burns and smoke inhalation a few days ago, Kristina Knight.

The dark haired filipina (who was also likely half caucasian as well, judging by her skin tone and face structure) who remained bedridden in her room, only getting up if she needed to go to the washroom. Other wise she would just lie on the bed and stare listlessly up at the ceiling. Or do the homework a quiet blonde haired girl named Andrea brought over everyday.

She knew she shouldn't get involved, but Kristy's behaviour was... concerning. Relationships between patients and nurse were supposed to remain on a platonic level, but her youngest sister, Gayle, was the same age as Kristy and Lacie couldn't help but be concerned. Over the years of raising her sister after their mother died and volunteer baby sitting for families that couldn't afford to pay her much, Lacie had developed a maternal streak that tended to extend towards children and adolescents.

And being exactly sixteen, Kristina was within the boundaries of being a teenager.

After giving the girl a lecture on how to wait for the professionals who were trained and outfitted for the types of situations that she ran into -TWICE- she ended it on the note that the woman and child she had gotten out of the house were eternally grateful for saving them.

Complimenting after a long winded lecture was a pretty useful technique when it came to interacting with rebellious teenagers. Something did often thanks to the other nurses dumping the more difficult adolescent patients on her.

But instead of looking proud (honestly, what teenager would not be happy about being called a hero?), the girl had stared at Lacie blankly as if she had no idea what in the world the nurse was talking about. Then she turned away to stare up at the ceiling, laughing bitterly.

_"A hero? Is that what they think?" _

_The way Kristina had said those words startled Lacie, but the next ones stunned her into silence. _

_"I'm not a hero. That's the last thing you should ever call me."  
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When Lacie probed the girl about what she meant, she had immediately clammed up and refused to say anything else.

So lost in her thoughts, Lacie didn't realize that someone was calling her name until two chairs at the table she was sitting at were pulled back and occupied by two other hospital workers.

"Hey!" A hispanic woman with dark brown hair and green eyes waved a hand in front of Lacie's face as the blonde was roughly brought out of her musing. "Didn't you hear us calling you?"

Maria Torres was the best EMT (or Paramedic, whatever you prefer) at Resurgam. She was always quick to the scene of any accident or situation that required stabilizing victims before transporting them to the hospital.

But she also had a quick temper that you had to look out for. Especially if you were out on the job with her; there was a reason why a good portion of the other EMTs were scared of her.

"Ah... sorry, no." Lacie quickly apologized as she took a bite of her cold food. She winced; perhaps she should have used the microwave to heat it up after all. "I was... thinking about something."

Maria's green eyes scrutinized her carefully, knowing that what the nurse had said wasn't the entire story. But before she could ask exactly about what Lacie had been thinking about, her companion, a man with red hair and grey blue eyes beat her to the punch.

"About what?" He asked. "And don't even try to squirm your way out of this one; I'll just bug you until you spill like a good big brother would when he's concerned about his little sister."

Lacie glared at her brother, but he didn't seem at all phased. Then again, he also happened to be Avery's brother and Avery was capable of making delinquents and muscle bound men quail just by glaring at them.

Lacie was one of three triplets; the youngest in fact. Cameron had been brought out into the world thirty minutes before her and Avery fifteen minutes before _him, _making the most temperamental sibling out of the three of them the oldest. As such, Lacie had been considered the baby of the family with Cameron and Avery being ridiculously protective of her until Gayle was born ten years later.

She debated on whether just getting up and leaving, but Maria and her brother were a pretty stubborn pair and would not leave until Lacie gave them what they wanted.

Which was probably why the two paramedics got along after a two month rocky start when Cameron had been first apprenticed to Doctor Torres. He had been able to endure the temper that had made Maria legendary amongst other workers in Resurgam out of sheer stubborness. Once again not surprising since he had also dealt with someone as terrorizing as Maria for most of his life.

Avery.

Cameron himself had been pretty determined to prove his worth to anyone who happened to be in some form of authority over him. And no one, not even a scary hispanic woman who was as good at brawling as she was at saving lives, was going to deter him from that.

Maria, who had grown used to people having near breakdowns because of her tendencies to yell at them while they were on the job, had been impressed by Cameron's resilience under her command.

Ever since then, the two paramedics had gotten along much better, even having gone out for drinks several times after work.

With a long suffering sigh, Lacie told the two paramedics what had been on her mind.

"So wait... you're telling me that she said that you shouldn't be calling her a hero?" Maria stated, completely incredulous.

Maria, someone who had wanted to be just _that_ for most of her life, found it hard to believe that a _teenager_ of all people would even deny being considered a hero. Sure not all teens were stupid enough to run into a burning building to get someone out, but she knew that quite a lot of them would bask in the praise of being considered a hero.

Lacie nodded.

"Maybe she's just modest?" Cameron suggested, reaching over and taking his sister's lunch for himself. Not that Lacie really noticed or anything since she didn't utter a word of protest.

"Modest is saying something like: 'It's nothing' or 'I just did what any person in my situation would do'." Lacie huffed at him. "But she flat out denied being a hero in _disgust. _I would say that the very idea of being considered a hero makes her sick."

Cameron choked on his sister's food. He thumped his chest until his air passage was clear again and he could speak without having to gasp for air every other sentence.

"Woah. Seriously?"

Lacie shot him a look and he took the hint that yes, she was serious.

"Huh." Cameron rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "That _is _strange."

"Yeah." Maria nodded. "I mean, what kid her age wouldn't want to be called one"

Before the two paramedics and the nurse could dwell on that any further, a fourth voice interrupted them as the owner stopped by the table they were sitting at.

"There you are, Lacie!" Darnell Sellers, a fellow nurse at Resurgam, stated in relief as he addressed the strawberry blonde. "I've been looking all over for you!"

"You have?"

"Yes! Chief Patel says that she needs to talk to you about something important."

"Right now?" Lacie bit her lip as she realized that her hunger had returned with a full vengeance... and that Cameron had eaten all of the lunch she brought from home so she wouldn't be able to eat until dinner. Which just so happened to be about five hours away. Hopefully she would have enough time to stop by a vending machine to get something so that her stomach wouldn't be _completely _empty.

"Yes!" The impatience in Darnell's voice was beginning to show.

"Okay, then. Guess I'll go to her office."

"Actually, Chief Patel wants you to meet her at the lobby."

_'Huh? Why?' _Lacie wanted to ask, but she had a feeling that Darnell was just as clueless as she was at the Chief's strange request.

A few minutes later, the nurse was in the lobby just as she had been instructed. She saw Esha Patel talking with two other people by the entrance. Once the chief surgeon spotted her, the older woman enthusiastically waved Lacie to come over just as the man in the black suit wearing a brown trench coat patted his companion on the shoulder before turning to leave. He shot a glance over at Lacie and she could have sworn that he had raised an eye brow when he saw her face.

But the man didn't say anything and just left.

"You wanted to see me, Chief?" It was a rhetorical question as Darnell had already told her that Esha had requested for her, but she did it out of habit of being polite.

"That's right!" The woman nodded, obviously in a good mood. "I wanted to introduce you to someone!"

She grabbed Lacie by the upper part of her left arm and brought her closer.

"Lacie, this is our new surgeon Doctor Erhard Muller." She gestured to the the man who was shifting uncomfortably under their gazes. "He's already worked at Resurgam before, but I thought that it would be nice if someone showed him around."

Lacie stared at him. The one who Esha had introduced as the being the new surgeon had black, unkempt hair and intimidating red eyes. He was wearing a white doctor's coat over a white suit of some sort. If she were to make an estimate of his age, he would be somewhere in his late twenties to early thirties.

For some reason he looked familiar. She knew for certain that this was the first time the two of them met, but she couldn't help but think that she had seen him somewhere before. Maybe on television or in the papers?

Anyways, now was not the time to dwell on it.

"It's nice to meet you, Doctor Muller." Lacie said cheerfully, holding out a hand to him.

The man stared at her hand for a few seconds as if unsure of how to respond before holding out his own hand and shaking it.

"Um... nice to meet you too," The side of his lips tilted upwards as if attempting to form a smile but he must have thought otherwise as his facial expression remained neutral, "...Lacie?" And his eyes shifted to the side. "And call me CR-S01. I'm... not quite used to being called by my actual name yet."

Lacie blinked, attempting to hide her surprise.

CR-S01 was a prisoner serial number; a pretty infamous one according to Avery who worked at the PPD. The prisoner who had been given that serial number had seemingly been responsible for the first Rosalia outbreak at Cumberland College incident.

But according to Maria it was his adopted father who was responsible for the Cumberland College incident and eight years after the incident that _he_ had been falsely accused of, CR-S01 was ironically the one to figure out the cure for the second outbreak that had spread through out Portland and other parts of the US.

"Why don't you give our new surgeon a tour of the hospital now?" Esha suggested, interrupting Lacie's train of thought.

"But-" CR-S01 began to protest but shut up immediately when the Chief gave him a slight glare.

"I'm sure Lacie would love to give you one!" She turned to the nurse. "Wouldn't you?"

"Of course!" Lacie nodded. She didn't mind and honestly, would you say 'no' to the Chief?

**xxxx**

"I don't remember this being here," CR-S01 muttered, eying the hallway in front of them.

"Oh, the new patient wing was built pretty recently. Around last year." Lacie said, not surprised that he didn't recognize the new patient wing. It had been about nearly three years since he had last been to Resurgam after all.

"Oh. That's good." CR-S01's reply didn't leave very much conversation to follow after. "Um..."

Lacie waited patiently.

"How are Dr. Torres. Dr. Tachibana, Dr. Freebird and Dr. Cunningham?" He finally said.

The nurse paused at the names of Resurgam's top doctors.

"Well I was just talking to Maria before I was told to come into the lobby. As far as I know she's yelling at the other paramedics and occasionally punching anyone who has the misfortune of making her angry."

"So still the same then?" The sides of the man's lips tilted upwards for the second time they met.

They had left the patients' wing and were heading in the direction of the ORs.

"Pretty much." Lacie suddenly clapped her hands together as a great idea hit her. "I know! Instead of me telling you about them why don't we go see them?"

"Is that such a good idea?" CR-S01 didn't look comfortable at the idea. "What if they're busy?"

"Obviously we won't burst into the room if they're in the middle of an operation or busy with something else, but I think they would be happy to see you again!" She gave him a reassuring smile. "You know, they often talk fondly of you so I don't think it'll be a problem at all."

The man's face reddened and he looked away when Lacie beamed at him.

"You think they would-"

Lacie cut him off. "I know they would! Come on-"

"Out of the way!" All of a sudden, Lacie was jerked to the side as she narrowly missed being hit by a gurney. She realized that CR-S01 had been the one to pull her to the side before she got run down.

"Thanks." She muttered, her face slightly red at the fact that she had been in the way of someone being rushed to an operating room and that she was in such close contact with him.

"...you're welcome." He said, finally releasing her.

The two of them listened to the ensuing conversation going on further in the hallway as one of the nurses rushed over. Judging from the look on her face, she had some bad news.

"Doctor, there isn't enough of the patient's blood type!"

"What?" Understandably, the doctor who was about to operate on the patient was angry. "What do you mean there isn't enough!"

"We were supposed to get a new supply today, but they haven't arrived with it yet!"

"DAMN! What's the blood type?"

"It's AB Negative."

The silence that suddenly took over was deafening. AB negative was considered to be the rarest blood type in the world.

"You've got to be-"

"I have AB Negative." A quiet voice behind Lacie and CR-S01 said.

The former immediately whirled around to see Kristina staring at her.

"What?" She said, her mind not quite registering what the girl had said.

"I have AB Negative. Isn't that something those people over there need?" She jerked chin over to where the panicked nurse and agitated doctor was.

"Uh, yes, but what are you getting at?" Lacie asked, concerned about where this was going. And why was the patient outside of the room? Npt that she wasn't happy about it or anything, but this was the first time that Kristina had actually gotten out of her bed much less her room.

"I can donate my blood for the transfusion that patient needs. It sounds like the guy on the gurney needs blood much more than I do at the moment anyways." She paused. "My mom was a nurse and she said that during a surgery once, they had to perform an emergency transfusion."

The surgeon and the nurse stared at her. The latter completely taken by surprise at the suggestion and the former looking thoughtful.

"That's-" Lacie blinked, her mind trying to form coherent words. The girl was just recovering herself so why would she go and suggest such a thing?

"It could work." CR-S01 nodded. "AB Negative isn't something you can easily come across. But is your blood-"

"It's fine. I had a blood test taken last year and the doctor saw nothing wrong with it. I haven't done anything that would have changed that."

"But are you eligible?" Lacie asked. "You have to be at least seventeen to donate."

"Does it matter?" The girl retorted. "I'm sixteen, but I'll be seventeen next year."

Lacie opened her mouth but CR-S01 stepped forward. "Alright."

The blonde woman stared at him in disbelief.

"A patient's life is on the line and an opportunity like this shouldn't be over looked." He then turned to Kristina. "But do you know what you're getting yourself into?"

"Somewhat." She said. "But it doesn't matter if I'm in over my head; just because I don't like living anymore doesn't mean someone else doesn't deserve a second chance."

Because life had lost all meaning for her nearly a year ago.

* * *

><p><strong>And I am done on that depressing note. I was going to continue the chapter, but I decided to end it here. Seemed good and I wanted to start on a new chapter, so heh.<strong>

**So what do you think? And yeah, Kristy would be considered the protagonist though the story isn't going to entirely focus on her. Just wanted to introduce some of the other characters into the story and thought that this would be a good idea.**

**Yeah, Kristy does not like living. To her, continuing to live is nothing but an eternal hell. Some of you might understand this, but some of you might not. But for the most part she's a shell of her former self.**

**Also, I'm not sure how realistic it is to transfuse blood that someone just donated into another person, but... a... plot point? And yeah, Kristy donating blood for some random person is important. You'll see it later on.  
><strong>


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